Owen Oliver

“ MOST things that you have rows about aren't worth having rows over. I began to see that when I was a kid in the Lower Third. Carr and I had a scrap over a white rat. Just after we'd finished the second round, Tubby Bennet came along and proved that the beast didn't belong to either of us, but to him, because there was a B inked on its tail.
This story isn't about white rats. I've had to give them up, because I'm nearly fifteen and in the Upper Fourth. It's about the upset with Wickings, the drill instructor last term, which made everybody see that rows and ragging are mugs' games. ”

“ Boys ain't got no reasonin' power."
He was always telling us that, and we got sick of it, and called him Reasoning Power. A chap must expect to get called things if he keeps saying them over and over like a parrot, so he had only himself to blame.
He got frightfully ratty when you called him Reasoning Power to his face. (You did it from a good way off, of course.) He got rattier when you said "Sergeant Reasoning Power." (You did that from a very long way off, because he could run.) He went right off the deep end when you said "Drill-Instructor Reasoning Power." ”

“ Wicky roared, "and I'll report you! I'll have no low foreign words in this class."
We all laughed, and that made him wilder.
"Tell me it in English," he shouted, "or I'll go straight to Mr. Stead!" He's the Head. We call him Badger. ”

“ Palmer began to rub his eyes then. I don't think anyone else saw, and, of course, I haven't given him away.
"Come on, my girl," we heard Wickings say. "Let's get along home. I'll be off after something to-morrow morning. When a chap loses a fight, the only thing to do is to learn a lesson for the next."
"That's my man!" Mrs. Wickings said.
If you ask me, old Reasoning Power is one. ”

“ I'd like to know how you're going to do it with your gym. shoes! He always forgets that he isn't in the Army. He was quite good at boxing really, frightfully smart when he began, though he started by putting up his arms as if he was Mr. Punch posing for the cinema. And I will say he played a good game at cricket. He made forty-three and thirty-seven last summer for the village (he lived there) against the school. He was a decent chap in his bumptious way, because he never reported anyone. ”

“ It was all our faults, and I'll go, too."
"It's no use getting into a row for nothing," Bennet said; "we may as well go the whole hog, and ask him to take old Reasoning Power back. I'll make three. I don't care if I get a toshing. What annoys me is wasting fourpence on that cat."
So we passed two resolutions.
187. The previous resolution is ressinded. [3] Drill-Instructor Wickings having been dealt with by the Head, the Round Table has changed its mind. The three shillings advance will not be recovered under the circs. ”